As the use of computers in both the workforce and personal life has increased, so has the desire to allow for easier use of them. Many operating systems today utilize a windows based configuration of application programs. Information is displayed on a display screen in what appears to be several sheets of paper.
When multiple windows are open at the same time, switching quickly to the desired window can be difficult. For example, the desired window may be partially or fully occluded by other open windows. Also, the desired window may be minimized or hidden.
Modern operating systems offer a fast way to switch among recently used windows. Current versions of the Windows® brand operating system by Microsoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash. include the Alt-Tab key combination, Task List, and Taskbar, which when selected presents a list of open windows in a representation different from the primary windows. In particular, with respect to the Alt-Tab key combination, this is done by holding down the Alt key on a keyboard and repeatedly pressing the Tab key before releasing the Alt key. Each press of the Tab key moves the focus of this action to the next older window, where age is defined by how recently the window was active. A single key or key combination is a commonly used operating system feature.
Window selection interfaces have been proposed to minimize the necessity to sort through the various open windows. Similar user interfaces exist in the Mac OS X brand operating system by Apple Computing, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. including Apple-Tab and the Dock in which a list of windows in are provided in a representation different from the primary window. Each of the aforementioned user interfaces restate or reformulate the open windows into a type of list. These interfaces however, do not allow the user to view content of a window without the window being selected.
Recently, Apple Computing, Inc. introduced Exposé in the Mac OS X brand operating system. Exposé provides a user with the ability to display all open windows as thumbnails on the desktop. In operation, when the user types the F9 key, Exposé tiles all the open windows, that is it scales the windows down to a size such that all the open windows are displayed in a non-overlapping form. In another aspect, Exposé provides a user with the ability to display/view all open windows for one particular application in a non-overlapping manner. Specifically, when the user types the F10 key, Exposé tiles all of the open windows for the current application in a non-overlapping form while fading to a gray all of the open windows associated with other applications.
While Exposé allows the user to view open windows simultaneously, multiple windows are tiled on the screen, which can still lead to some confusion. Further, display of a thumbnail with live video content is not possible as the tiled windows are merely snapshots of the content of the window when the user initiated the tiled action. It would be helpful to provide an interface which allows a user to scan quickly through open windows and have additional information provided to the user to quickly switch to a desired window.